Along the Natchez Trace

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Man and I visited the George Washington Carver National Monument late in the day, as we arrived at the Moses Carver Family Cemetery area the sun was low on the western horizon and cast a lovely golden color on the stones. The following photo is from park signage, showing the burial spots and other data about the family and the cemetery. As you can see, in the 1930's there were no large stones. Now there are large stones marking the burial spots of man of the family members. So, the stone photos I will share with you today would appear to be replacements, they are lovely, and done in the style I see common for the time in which they lived and died.

Moses and Susan Carver raised George and his brother after their parents died.

George Washington Carver stated in his 5 page autobiography written about 1897, that his father died shortly after he was born. His mother was reported to have been kidnapped, as was George and his sister when he was only a few months old. George was rescued, his sister and mother were not.

Moses and Susan and other family members buried here do have memorials over at Find A Grave.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Confession, I am having trouble figuring out Mexican records/research. I am told once you figure it out, you can go way back. OK, good, but, I have not cracked it yet. I know he was born there, however, I do not know if my guy ever went back to Mexico. He was reportedly born in November of 1910 in Mexico City, father Jose G. Zapata, mother, Juana C. De Zapata (confession # 2, I am not even sure I have the names correct).

Francisco Alberto Zapata, mid 1940's?

Here is a time line I can prove with documents.

Crossed the border, 11 Apr 1945 at Brownsville, Texas, headed to Norfolk Virginia, Lehigh Memorial Hospital, he was a Doctor.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

While Man and I were camping near Joplin Missouri for a few days, we went out in search of Zachariah, my great great grandfather. Zachariah Z. Trumbo died in Medoc, Jasper County, Missouri in 1871. He was staying with his aunt Dorothy Trumbo Hess and her husband, Levi Hess when he died.

We went to the Georgia City Cemetery and visited and photographed Zachariah's headstone. During the visit Man and I both re-read my notes on Zach and Levi Hess (yep, had the iPod and the BabyHP with us, data base on both, wahhhooo) . We noted that Levi is reported by family to have been a farmer and a minister. He lived in Medoc, Man and I found the "burg" on the map barely 2 miles from the cemetery. We drove there and then snooped around, just a little. There is no sign, there is apparently no official town/village/burg any more. Very few homes, lots of open land, farm land and prairie.

While driving around we spotted this very old and run down church, of course, we had to stop and take photos and snoop around a bit.
﻿

Could these been Levi's?? I doubt I will ever find out, and, seriously, it is doubtful eh? Would the structures really have survived 130 years? Probably not. But, still it is fun to contemplate and snoop around!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Man and I picked Jasper County Missouri to stop for several days during the Thanksgiving holiday. We wanted to be off the road for a few days before/after. We found a campground that gave discounts for Passport America members. We have been members for well over a year, and had yet to find a member campground that worked into our travels. Well, this one did. We found the George Washington Carver National Monument here and the Precious Moment Chapel, and - - ZACH.

ZACH is my great great grandfather, via one illegitimate birth, non-provable link but, totally accepted by Trumbo researchers and all the locals of Rockingham County Virginia.

But, more on him in a moment - -

So, we pulled into this campground, to discover it is in new ownership, open for 3 months. The new owner is a charmer, nice, nice fellow. We paid for our discounted camping, and with his smiling and affable assistance found a campsite right by the pond. If you are a friend over at Facebook you will have read the posts with what followed in the next several days: tornado watch, turned to tornado warnings (within 6 to 10 miles from us), flooding rains which at one time deposited 2 inches of rain right outside Tana's door, slides pulled in for over 6 hours, and now saturated ground that is draining off s-l-o-w-l-y. Next comes bitter cold weather, well below freezing and of course, the standing water gets that freezy glaze stuff on top. We are safely parked on a concrete pad, but, mmmmm, I am not sure how Man will get the utilities unhooked when we leave, stay tuned. (This kind of weather is part of RVing we DO NOT like, especially that tornado stuff. Believe me, when the sun rises the next day and you are still in one piece, you are very thankful and happy!)

The pond is a goose magnet, seriously, in the early AM there must be a couple of hundred of them. One night sitting here at my desk, looking out the window at the pond, I witnessed the graceful approach and landing in the pond at dusk by several gaggles of geese.
﻿

Flooded campsite, and gaggles of geese.
(Stay tuned over at Reflection's Flora and Fauna
in the next few days, a nice close up of
some of these dudes and dudettes!)

Now, back to Zach. On Wednesday, one day prior to Thanksgiving, we head out for Webb City Library. After a few minutes of snooping around on the net, I had discovered that this library had the only filmed newspapers for the year young Zach died, 1871. I have an obituary/death notice for Zach that was published in Rockingham County, Virginia, but, I was curious if we could find one in the Jasper County Missouri area. I was really fishing, with no bait, so to speak, I really did not have very high hopes, but, maybe I could find mention of his lingering illness prior to his death. The volunteers at the Webb City Library have indexed the old newspapers (CLAP CLAP CLAP) for obituaries, births and marriages, and nope, Zach was not indexed. I looked at the newspaper microfilm anyway, just in case it was missed (doubtful) or that illness mention. Nadda. Oh, well, I tried.

Gotta share this "discovery". On the way to Webb City we happened onto this, you can learn more about it, here, dedicated in 1974, it is 32 foot tall. You cannot miss it, very impressive, another delight discovered along our route.

Next, on to Georgia City Cemetery to visit Zach's grave. Cousin Rebecca had visited here a few years ago on my behalf and request. She still tells me today how hard it was to find this cemetery. The nice genie volunteers at the Webb City Library had never heard of it, asking me where it was. Because of Rebecca's prior visit, a newspaper article about the reclaiming the cemetery from the prairie, the Internet (GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth) and my computer program Streets and Trips, I had an easier time finding it than did Rebecca. Thanks to Rebecca for paving the way.

﻿﻿﻿﻿

Gate sign, Georgia City Cemetery,
near Georgia City and Modoc, Jasper County, Missouri

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Man and I arrived, pulled off the road onto a service parking area, he pulled within 50 feet of Zach's grave. It was cloudy (wahhooooo, exclaims the genie shutterbug) and I think I got some nice photos. I took several (LOL)

Zachariah Z. Trumbo was born March 28, 1848 at Brocks Gap, Rockingham County, Virginia to Benjamin Trumbo and his first wife, Cynthia Ann (nee Riddle) Trumbo. He died May 29, 1871 near Medoc, Jasper County, Missouri, he was living with his aunt Dorothy and her husband, Rev. Levi Hess at the time of his death.

And, that dear readers, friends and family, is how I got to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with wind, rain, cold, geese, praying hands, and my great great grandfather, Zach.

Friday, November 26, 2010

On our ride from St. Louis Missouri to Joplin Missouri several of our MOC friends (via Facebook) suggested we needed to visit the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage Missouri. I like Precious Moments, but, have never been a collector. But, I could just tell this would be a photo op and blog fodder and admittance was free, so, Man and I decided to include it in our stop at Joplin. We were glad we did, we visited the last warm day (75 degrees) of the week and were able to walk around the gardens comfortably. I was right, it was shutterbug delight!

To see all the different figurines and statuary, well, it is fun and impressive and moving. Samuel J. Butcher (born in Jackson County, Michigan, about 45 minutes from our stick built home) is the artist. Here is the main entrance, with fountain (drained for the winter):

Here is a bronze statue decked out a bit for the holidays:

Even the doors to the chapel have Precious Moment childen carved into them:

Inside the chapel are murals, I believe 15 of this size, many were too high for me to get a photo. I totally missed the ceiling, which I believe is painted with angels, I was concentrating so hard on the murals, I did not look up. (Note, no flashes were allowed.)

There are 15 stained glass windows, some of the windows contain over 1200 pieces of cut glass. They were designed by Samuel Butcher and cut out and constructed by his sister-in-law, Annie Cushman.

﻿

"Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth"

There is a museum on the property, with examples of most, if not all the different Precious Moment porcelain designs It is overwhelming! There is also a gift shop (of course), where I spied this cutie, I love her title, "You Always Bounce Back Up".

﻿

No, I did not buy her. I did not buy this one either, but I, the non-collector of Precious Moments, was sorely tempted.

"I'm a Happy Camper"

* The disclaimers, Precious Moments has copyrights, but, they did give us permission to take as many photos as we wanted (I took about 115). I claim no rights to Precious Moments copyrights, only to mine as photographer and writer, which are second to those of Precious Moments. Guess what I am saying, is, beware of what you steal and borrow from this blog, if I don't get cha, Precious Moments might! Or, as the say along most any nature trail, that reads, something like, "Look, Don't Remove".

When we left St. Louis, Missouri, we headed south and west some more, using I 44 as our route, all expressway driving. It was the day after a nasty storm, and Momma Nature was resting, so we had bright skies and light tail winds, Big Butt ate up the hills, Man had a blast driving and all in all we had a great travel day.

Seeing hills cut away for the highway is always interesting for us,
we live in pretty flat countryside at the stickbuilt.
Besides, I need more practice on this photo at 6o MPH stuff!

We had chosen Jopin, Jasper County, Missouri as our next stop, about 260-ish miles, we arrived about 3 p.m. at our campground.

While Man and I were chosing a stopping place/campground, I realized that my great great Grandfather Zachariah Z. Trumbo died and is buried here in Jasper County. I never ever thought of actually being able to visit his gravesite. OK, bonus family research opportunity.

On the drive over from St. Louis, I also discovered about the same time as several of our MOC friends (via Facebook) informed me that I just had to stop and see the Precious Moments Chapel near Carthage, Missouri. More on that later.

Just before arriving at the campground we discovered another little delight, the George Washington Carver National Monument was just a few miles away. OK, I should be doing a better job of discovering these little jewels BEFORE we hit the road, but, I have to say, an unexpected discovery like this quickly becomes a delightful and memorable gift.

So, Man and I quickly unhooked Tana, and did little else, taking off to find and discover the National Monument, which we did. Our route in was a 2 lane country road with several "narrow" bridges and rolling hills that also delighted. Simple pleasures to be appreciated.

We arrived at the park about 1 hour before the gates closed, so we opted to walk the gardens, to see the site of his birth cabin, the streams, bronze statues, the Moses Carver home, and the family cemetery (George is NOT buried here.) We walked the paths quickly getting some much needed and much appreciated exercise after a long day in Big Butt.
﻿

I am sorry, I neglected to get the name of the artist.
This bronze sculpture was near the Visitors Center.
It had a recording of "Equipment", as read by Dr. Carver
in 1942, not long before his death.

﻿
I leave you with these words from George Washington Carver, as taken in part from a National Park Service brochure:

In 1922, George Washington Carver penned a thank you note to one of his students who had given him a fountain pen as a Christmas present. In the note, Carver offered hope “that each of you will rise to the full height of your possibilities” and suggesting these eight cardinal virtues would help them do just that.

"Mr. L. Robinson

I wish to express to each member of the Senior class my deep appreciation for the fountain pen you so thoughtfully gave me.

This gift is characterized by simplicity and thoughtfulness, which I hope each of you will make the slogan of your lives.

I hope that each of you will rise to the full height of your possibilities, which means the possession of these eight cardinal virtues which constitutes a lady or a gentleman.

1st. Be clean both inside and outside.

2nd. Who neither looks up to the rich or down on the poor.

3rd. Who loses, if needs be, without squealing.

4th. Who wins without bragging.

5th. Who is always considerate of women, children and old people.

6th. Who is too brave to lie.

7th. Who is too generous to cheat.

8th. Who takes his share of the world and lets other people have theirs.

May God help you to carry out these eight cardinal virtues and peace and prosperity be yours through life.

Lovingly yours,

G. W. Carver

*I'll share with you our visit to the Precious Moments Chapel and Zach's research and grave in the next several posts.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Now that the turkey has been devoured and you are all fat and sassy, hope you will enjoy this little offering.

CHOO CHOO!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is dedicated to all our RVing friends, who will SOOOOO get the photo at the end! Enjoy, I just know you will be ROTFLOL.

When you travel in the northern states at this time of the year, you have to take what you can get when it comes to campsites. See, in the northern climes, many, if not MOST of the campgrounds close around October 15th, maybe the 31st.

We wanted to stay near Springfield, and St. Louis. We ended up in KOA Campgrounds in both cases, campgrounds that officially are closed, but allow campers in, if you ask. Man asked.

A bit more back story which our RVing friends will all so totally understand. See there is something called the "gotta have train tracks near the campground" syndrome. Many campgrounds sit near railroad tracks, active tracks, some extremely active tracks. Oh, some campgrounds you hear the trains in the distance as they rumble by, sometimes you hear the horns far off, quietly warning that they are passing through. Some campgrounds are a bit closer to the tracks, so when a train rolls by you know it, the horns wake the sleeping dead, the trains are better at waking you than an alarm clock or an over active bladder.

Man and I don't mind most trains, we joke, if there are train sounds, we must be in Tana, camping. YAA!!!

However, we have had 2 experiences that, well, are memorable. One was back around 1986 or so, when we had that new 1986 custom van. It had an alarm, a motion detecting alarm. The van was new, Man was anxious, he had the alarm adjusted to "SENSITIVE". We were on our way south, driving I 75 through Ohio and Kentucky. We would stop in a campground somewhere south of Cincinnati. It sat on a long piece of property that laid between I 75 on one side and a double set of railroad tracks on the other. I'll bet you know where I am going with this story, yes indeedy. In the middle of the night, the 18-wheelers still running/rumbling hard up and down I 75 and two trains passing at the same time on the double track, set the motion detector off on the van. Seeing that the van and the trailer were still tethered, all the lights on the trailer AND the van started blinking on and off while the noisy alarm went off as well.

OK, that was memorable, and we learned our lesson, do not set motion detector alarms to sensitive mode if we intend on stopping here again.

But, by far the loudest, closest and scariest train/campground story took place near Galveston Texas. We needed a safe place to get off the road for 10 hours, hopefully to grab some zzzzs. Not paying a lot of attention to the surroundings, other than to note that, yes, there was a set of railroad tracks nearby, we paid our camping fee, backed Tana into our campsite, set up, got the dogs inside, and then a train rolled by. The tracks were soooooo close to Tana that we felt the ground rumble and shake as the train passed. I was sitting at my desk, looking out the back window and thought that train was going to come off the tracks and right inside Tana. I think the tracks were 25 to 35 feet from Tana's back wall. I hope that I am never that close to railroad tracks for an entire night ever again. Oh, yes, it was a VERY long night.

So, back to our two KOA's so far this trip. One is in Eureka Missouri, just 30 miles or so west of Saint Louis. This has to be Reflection's dream campground (she says with an evil glint in her eyes), we have a highway close by, and a couple of train tracks, which are nearby, but a respectable distance (making the noise levels soothing, not irritating). AND, just 5 campsites from where Tana is parked, the Allen Cemetery! This place has it all. It is too expensive (but very clean and neat), the electrical has been used hard (we had to plug Tana into the service at the next site over, as our electrical service was partially burnt), but, I mean, a campground, a train, a highway AND a cemetery! Delightful.

In the photo below, you can see the cemetery, not the best photo, but, lookie, see, look hard, fuzzy tho it may be, there it is!
﻿

The silver on the far left of this photo is the ladder on
Tana's back side. Right above the word "this" is a headstone.
The cemetery up there is easily sighted from our campsite.

Here is that headstone up close.
Emily has a memorial at Find A Grave.

The other KOA was near Springfield Illinois. We have never visited a KOA that was so far off the expressways. This place was several miles off a decent 2 lane road. There was a bridge you had to drive over to reach the campground, a single lane bridge. I'll let the signs tell the rest of the story. (Spelling and such are to be noted, but, of course. If you cannot read the signs, click on the photo, so it opens in a larger format.)

They are right, no noise from planes, trains or highways. Quiet for sure! And, they have the signs to brag about it!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

After our tour we went over to the City Garden (suggested by Susan, great suggestion, thank you Susan!). Parking was a bit of a challenge, mmmmmm, football game, need I say more?? LOL Finally Man's driving around resulted in a free place to park. We walked around, took lots of photos (now, there is a surprise, right, NAHHH).
﻿

"Voyage"
Bronze, 1999
by Jean-Michel Folon

"Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels"
Painted Bronze, 2009
Jim Dine,
who has been fascinated by Pinocchio for years.

Four Rectangles Oblique
Stainless Steel 1979
George Rickey
Mesmerizing, the rectangles move by wind
and by gravity, always changing in speed,
direction, and which rectangle is moving.
This one needs to be seen in person, in motion!

Eros Bendato
Bronze, 1999
Igor Mitoraj

La Riviere
Bronze 1938-1943
Aristide Maillol

There are at least 23 pieces of art and statuary in the City Garden. According to the web site: "In total, the garden includes 235 trees, comprised of twenty different species. Of the 89 other species of plants, there are 1,170 shrubs, 4,194 perennials, native grasses and wildflowers, 8,000 bulbs, 12,726 groundcovers, and 32,000 square feet of lawn." Impressive!

By now I was in desperate need of real food and fuel, and, ya, Carol was a bit (a 'lot' if you ask Man) C-R-A-N-K-Y. Man drug me down a few blocks and found this fun and fabulous place, Culinaria. (I think he got real lucky on this find, he will tell you he just knew he would find something terrific before I dropped over in a starving faint! LOL) We ate, food was good, priced reasonable, and Man was happy that Carol was a lot less cranky when we left than when we went in!

We did not "do" the Arch, nor several other interesting and historical sites in and around St. Louis. We are still watching the weather, we still need to get further south and west. So, we limited our stay here to just a few nights. We keep reminding ourselves we are NOT on a vacation, we can do as little or as much as we want, move on when we want, take in what sites we want. We have no schedule, only factor we are mindful of is Mother Nature, and, if she catches us in some foul stuff, like snow, we shall just sit and wait for it to thaw. That said, Mother Nature can keep all ice storms to herself! LOL

So far, we have enjoyed our days on the road and the slow pace we are keeping.

*Between the time I originally wrote this and posted it, Mother Nature cooked up a tornado watch, thunderstorm, 60 MPH wind and hail warnings. Man and I put the slides in during the worst of the storm. It did rain, but the winds and the hail did not happen, and we did not miss them! Forecast for next several days are dropping temps, and some rain off and on, and mmmmm, the words "mixed precip" came up. OOO OOO.

While in St. Louis, one probably should take in the tour at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, so, we did. It was interesting, the only down side was the fact that both of our tour guides spoke fast, like they were running some kind of sprint, and they did not enunciate well. Seeing that they used a microphone, with echos in some of the buildings and quite a bit of background noise in others, we now have a problem. With Man's hearing loss, he cannot understand large hunks of what they were saying.

It was disappointing to go on a tour to learn about the company and not be able to hear or understand what they were saying. But, the beer samples at the end of the tour were quite good! Of course, Carol took a lot of photos (148 or so for the day), here are a few.

﻿﻿

Beechwood aging.

Attention Son # 1, 2 and 3.
This is your competition!
LOL

Bottles, and more bottles, filled, capped.
Now, where is the bottle opener and chilled glass?
Ohhhh, ya, see below.

Free samples, they offered, we accepted.
MMM, good!

The day also included a visit to the City Garden in St. Louis and Al's find, Culinaria. They will be featured in my next post.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

After our short stop in Springfield Illinois, Man and I headed Big Butt and Tana west and south. We departed via I 55 south, driving directly to St. Louis, Missouri. We crossed the ole Mississippi, shot off a few photos of the Arch.
﻿﻿﻿

THE Arch, St. Louis. Taken while crossing the Missisippi
River. I might be getting a bit better at this 60 MPH
photo taking. This was a challenge, taking the photo at 60,
balancing the Baby HP computer on my lap, reading the
maps on Streets & Trips, helping Man with directions, traffic
and Tana in tow. OK, I'll confess,
I am very happy with this photo! LOL

Next we headed out I 44 to our next campground, another KOA, this one in Eureka, Missouri.

As Man and I were making our way along I 55, Susan, AKA Nolichucky Roots, commented on the blog that if I came by St. Louis, I should wave. So, I waved, AND, I emailed her. We hatched a plan to grab some barbeque (now you know Man could not resist that kind of temptation LOL) later that evening.
﻿﻿﻿﻿

Dinner was at Super Smokers BBQ. MMM, GOOD!
(Google it, read all about their awards!)

Our last minute hatched plan turned into a delightful evening, great food, really good micro-brew pilsner beer, and lots of good laughs and research stories. Susan and her hubby are super people, and we have a love of Michigan to share as well, as they once lived in Grand Haven. Thanks for the meetup Susan.

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All photos on this blog are those taken by Man or Moi, unless otherwise noted. Documents are either from some great genealogy site or are scans of originals I have turned up in my years of research. Other images should be accompanied by some kind of source data.

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About Me

Things I love: Family, Grandchildren, Rving, computers (sometimes, but not when they are being bad), family history, yorkies, techy toys like my iToys, photography.
I am all of these, so I write about them all, and more.

RVillage

If you surf in and see a name in your family tree, please contact me, best way, of course, is by email. You know the routine, change the AT and the DOT:
lashbrooke5 AT yahoo DOT com

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Please join me in prayers for family and friends.

Several family members and friends fighting pain.

Friends fighting the "C" monster, blessing to them and their families through this tough time.

There are always those who are suffering, from storms, illness, heartaches over children, parents, health.

Thank you for your prayers.

Captain Hook

Locks of Love

A cause dear to my heart

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Nonprofit organization for free websites for families to stay connected during serious illnesses.

Which Am I?

Am I a genealogist or a family historian?

Well, both of course, how can you be one without the other?

A family historian depends on the genealogist to supply the facts.

A genealogist depends on the family historian to tell the stories.

Genealogist, family historian, I am one in the same.

The New Ride, JGGBB4, Jolly Green Giant Big Butt 4.

Favorite sayings

" Living on Earth isn't cheap, but it does include a yearly free trip around the sun." (Source unknown.)

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt

"The only difference between a rut and a grave...is the depth."

Chinese proverb: "To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root."

"I sure wish they sold memory sticks for humans...I could use an upgrade."

"Don't let procrastination be your primary time management skill."

"If you are normal....no one will listen, If you're deranged....they will make you their leader."

"You're just jealous that the voices are talking to ME!"

"I'm quite sure that no friendship yields its true pleasure and nobility of nature without frequent communication, sympathy and service." (From George E. Woodberry)

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand." (From Henri Nouwen)

"Don't go where the road leads, rather go where there is no road and make a trail."

"Broken hearts are what give us strength, understanding and compassion."